Pimoroni makes a slew of thrilling monitors, forums and kits in accordance with Raspberry Pi’s Pico controller or the RP2040 chip that powers it. The Sheffield-based electronics corporate’s subsequent large mission: a gaming console with the stick-like shape issue of a Chromecast, two other RP2040 chips and the facility as well without delay into the Python REPL command line.
Pimoroni Founders Jon Williamson and Paul Beech disclosed the impending product, which they stated will be named the DV or “Virtual Video” Stick, in this previous week’s episode of the Tom’s {Hardware} Pi Forged (opens in new tab), our weekly display about all issues Raspberry Pi.
“This stick product, this HDMI factor is essentially the most amusing factor we’ve got were given happening these days,” Williamson stated.
The stick could have a integrated HDMI port that permits it to plug without delay right into a TV or track, along side a USB port you’ll use to glue a stressed peripheral. However it is going to even have Bluetooth connectivity so you’ll pair a wi-fi controller or keyboard with it.
Should you use it as a gaming console, the DV Stick will have the ability to play the similar video games that run on Pimoroni’s PicoSystem hand held. Introduced in 2021, the PicoSystem already has a couple of community-made video games for it, but in addition supplies gear so you’ll expand your individual in C++, MicroPython or CircuitPython. The PicoSystem makes use of a unmarried RP2040 for processing and outputs to a 240 x 240, 1.54-inch show. Pimoroni has now not specified a most solution for the DV Stick, however since it’s designed to connect with a TV, we’d be expecting it to succeed in a minimum of 1080p.
Pimoroni may be operating on some way so that you can run the MicroPython REPL without delay at the DV stick so you’ll boot to a urged (and not using a different OS than the tool’s firmware) and get started writing and executing code without delay on the urged. This sort of enjoy is paying homage to the UI from many Eighties computer systems such because the ZX Spectrum, Atari 400 and Commodore 64. On the ones, the machine booted to a urged the place you need to input BASIC systems.
The corporate additionally stated that folks may just use the DV Stick for info show. As an example, in the event you sought after to place a time table on a display screen the place everybody may just see it, you need to write a easy program the usage of the corporate’s Picographics Micropython library and fix the tool to a show.
The twin RP2040 chips at the DV Stick will permit it to have one CPU that does the device processing and some other that simply drives the show. Every of the chips has its personal PS RAM chip, this means that that there will likely be extra reminiscence than the 264K that comes usual with RP2040 chips / Raspberry Pi Picos.
“Every of the chips has a PS RAM chip for the body buffer and, on VSync they switch,” Williamson stated. “So we’ve an analog mux that mainly swaps the chips between the 2 so the applying processor writes into the body buffer in a single RAM chip then, when VSync happens within the show, it arms that RAM chip over to the show processor which arms its RAM chip again to the applying processor so the show outputs at the display screen.”
Riding an HDMI show with only one RP2040 processor would go away you with no ton of software efficiency, Williams famous, since the video encoding takes such a lot of CPU cycles.
There is no definitive liberate date or pricing for the DV Stick, that could be known as one thing else when it launches. The product is operating on a breadboard however there is no functioning prototype but, so we haven’t any footage of it within the article. Alternatively, Williamson and Beech stated that the product will have to be in a position inside a couple of weeks. On every occasion it comes out, they’re hoping that makers will in finding new and thrilling tactics to make use of it.
“It’s kind of of a peculiar one, however we more or less like the concept that such a lot that we did not fear ourselves an excessive amount of with what it is helpful for,” Williams stated. “We simply threw the whole thing that sounded amusing on it and concept we would see what occurs.”
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